Out To Sea
by Penelope Louise
Summary: An afternoon at the beach turns into something more for Lisbon and Jane. VanRigsby, Cho/OC, Jisbon. Challenge fic.


_**A/N: This is an answer to July's challenge from Jello-Forever.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

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It was swelteringly hot in the CBI headquarters. Lisbon was sitting on Jane's couch, irritatedly pushing his feet away from her legs every so often. She was wearing a dark green tank top, but was still hot.

Grace was typing away at her computer, but with less of the normal momentum she possessed in her fingers. Cho was reading, but the page turning seemed to decrease as the day went on. Rigsby was asleep in his chair, luckily not snoring.

"I have an idea!" Jane jumped up, startling the rest of the team so much Rigsby fell out of his chair and Cho dropped his book.

"Yes, Jane?" Lisbon said wearily.

"Let's go to the beach!" Jane exclaimed, grinning.

"Come of it Jane…" Lisbon rested her head on the couch, and closed her eyes.

"Aw, come on Lisbon! It'll be fun!" Jane whined.

"It'll be nicer out and we could go swimming." Grace pointed out. Lisbon sat up and opened her eyes.

"Oh, fine." She rolled her eyes. "Everyone go home and change and meet back here in thirty minutes."

Jane grinned, and ran off to the elevator.

Thirty minutes later, the team met again in the bullpen, before heading out to the elevator once again and heading for the team car.

Lisbon was wearing a strappy top that accentuated her figure and cut off denim shorts. Grace was wearing a simple white summery dress, in contrast to Rigsby's Hawaiian shirt and surf shorts. Cho was wearing black knee shorts, and a white shirt.

To Lisbon's intense surprise, Jane was wearing surf shorts and a blue t-shirt that set off his eyes and also, a little devil in Lisbon's brain added, looked very good over his obviously worked hard for abs.

Lisbon had the keys, so she was driving, so Jane called shotgun, beating Cho by seconds. Cho rolled his eyes and reluctantly suffered the drive in the back with Rigsby and Van Pelt, who were discussing the good and bad points of a movie they'd recently seen.

By the time they reached the beach it was nearing five, so a lot of the little kids had gone home. Lisbon parked the car and everyone jumped out. Lisbon and Jane headed off together, walking along the beach. Cho tagged along with Rigsby and Grace until a weird coincidence happened.

"Alyssa!" he cried, recognizing the girl sitting alone watching the tide go in and out. She turned her head.

"Kimball!" She exclaimed, jumping up and running over. To Cho's surprise she hugged him tightly and kissed him on the lips. "Ohmigod! I haven't seen you for ages!"

"I know. It's amazing to have you back, Aly." Cho smiled at the woman who he'd been planning to propose to when she'd had to move away to Germany for her job.

Jane took Lisbon's hand as they walked down the beach, oblivious to Cho's reunion behind them.

"You know, you look really nice today." Jane commented, and Lisbon chuckled.

"Thank you." She tilted her head and eyed him up. "Then again, so do you."

Jane stopped suddenly and sat down, pulling Lisbon down with him. She landed on the sand. "Jane!" She complained, and whacked his chest. He winced, and she laughed, lying down on the sand next to him.

The sun was bright, and after fifteen minutes of just lying on the sand, Jane broke the silence.

"Let's go swimming." He jumped up, pulling at Lisbon's hand.

"You are acting like a two year old, Jane." Lisbon laughed, pulling off her t-shirt and shorts to reveal a scarlet bikini. Jane's smile grew, and he pulled of his shirt. Grabbing Lisbon's hand he began to run. Lisbon almost fell over but he helped her stay upright. They ran into the water and the sudden friction against his momentum gained running caused Jane to fall over face first into the salty sea water. Lisbon would have burst out laughing if Jane hadn't still got hold of her hand, pulling her down with him.

Lisbon broke the surface again, spluttering slightly. "Jane!" She exclaimed as he surfaced, laughing. His hand was dripping, and he shook his head, spraying Lisbon with water droplets. They splashed about for a while until they decided just to lie on their backs in the water.

They simply floated, and theirs hands were entwined. Neither noticed that they were getting slowly pulled out to sea.

Rigsby and Van Pelt had swum around for a while, before simply walking along the beach.

Alyssa and Cho caught up on the details of each other's lives.

Lisbon went to turn around and swim back. "Shit… Jane?!" Jane looked at her.

"Yes?" he asked, feeling relaxed and happy. And cooler than before.

"Look how far we are away from shore." Lisbon pointed to the shoreline, which was almost a mere speck in the distance.

"Crap." Jane fumed at himself for being so stupid. "Swim next to me. We have to swim parallel to the shoreline."

"Okay…" Lisbon was scared, although she would never have admitted it.

With strong strokes, Jane began swimming, Lisbon next to him. She knew that she would tire, even though she prided herself on her fitness. Soon, the shoreline became more visible, and they could even see Rigsby and Van Pelt walking together.

"Come on." Jane panted, keeping swimming. He could see Lisbon beginning to slow slightly. "Keep swimming. Come on."

Lisbon felt lightheaded and slightly dizzy, an effect of exerting herself and probably sunstroke too.

Jane cupped her chin with one hand, and began to side-stroke towards the shore, remembering his lifeguard techniques he'd learnt in college. Lisbon helped him, but she knew that if it wasn't for Jane being a surprisingly strong swimmer, she probably wouldn't have made it to the sand again.

Once he felt sand under his feet, Jane scooped Lisbon up into his arm and carried her onto dry land. Van Pelt ran up, closely tailed by Rigsby.

"What happened?" Grace asked, shocked at Lisbon's pale face, and Jane's exhausted demeanour.

"Wasn't paying attention. Pulled out to sea." Jane managed to say, before sitting down heavily on the sand next to Lisbon.

"Boss, are you alright?" Rigsby leaned over, and Lisbon blinked a few times, dispersing the floating black things in her vision.

"I'm fine." Lisbon sat up and immediately wished she hadn't when the world tipped sideways. "I need to get my clothes."

Grace hurried away to collect them. "I'll get them!" She called back, and Lisbon sighed.

Later, when they were driving back, Rigsby was driving, and Cho was in the back with Jane and Lisbon. Lisbon was asleep on Jane's shoulder.

"Jane, can you wake up Lisbon?" Rigsby looked over his shoulder, as he had pulled up in front of Lisbon's house.

"Don't worry. I'll take her in." Jane opened the door of the car, jumped down and picked up Lisbon quite easily, as if she weighed a heck of a lot less than she should do.

"See you, Jane." Rigsby said, driving off.

Jane pulled Lisbon's house keys out of her shorts' pocket, and unlocked the door. Nudging it open with his foot, he carried Lisbon in. Heading upstairs, he gently laid her down on her bed.

She looked peaceful. Serene.

He hadn't the heart to wake her.

He was just about to close the door behind him when her voice called him.

"Jane?" He turned.

"Yes?" He asked.

"Thank you." Lisbon smiled at him. "For everything."

"It's alright." Jane brushed it off easily. "I'll be heading home."

"Jane…" Lisbon stopped him again. "You can't go home now, you'd have to walk. Stay, please?"

Jane hesitated. "I can't. I'm sorry." He was about to close the door again.

"Jane, please." Lisbon said, sitting up and looking directly at him. _Look. It's not like you're betraying her by staying with Lisbon, is it? _Jane thought about his wife. It wasn't the first time he had thought that being with Lisbon would be betraying her.

"Okay." He said after a while. "I'll be downstairs."

"Good night, Jane." Lisbon said, but the door was already closing. She waited a while, and heard the words she'd hoped for.

"Good night, Teresa."

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A/N: Did you enjoy? Please review!**_


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